Spansion has announced that the U.S. District Court dismissed Macronix's patent infringement case against Spansion.

The International Trade Commission (ITC) just announced that it would institute an investigation requested by Macronix.

So, this stuff wasn't thrown out.

Meanwhile, Spansion issued a press relesae, in response:

"This decision is standard ITC procedure and is not related to the merits of this case," said Ali Pourkeramati, senior vice president of Flash Memory Business at Spansion. "As the ITC stated in its own press release: 'by instituting this investigation (337-TA-909), the USITC has not yet made any decision on the merits of the case.' We believe that Macronix has requested this investigation without regard to its underlying merit as an attempt to counter our earlier case against Macronix at the ITC. The Macronix patents that have been asserted have questionable validity, lack domestic industry and are not infringed by Spansion products."

I am sure that I am not alone -- confused about all the different litigations going on between the two companies. While the legal spats between the two may continue for a while, we may be seeing some result this August....that would be a relief for everyone.

In conjunction with unveiling of EE Times’ Silicon 60 list, journalist & Silicon 60 researcher Peter Clarke hosts a conversation on startups in the electronics industry. One of Silicon Valley's great contributions to the world has been the demonstration of how the application of entrepreneurship and venture capital to electronics and semiconductor hardware can create wealth with developments in semiconductors, displays, design automation, MEMS and across the breadth of hardware developments. But in recent years concerns have been raised that traditional venture capital has turned its back on hardware-related startups in favor of software and Internet applications and services. Panelists from incubators join Peter Clarke in debate.